Syrinx
by FabulousMildred
Summary: Something is stirring. The gods are silent. Nature Spirits are uneasy. There's a new threat now, and Deanna and Kayden Mathews are thrown into the middle of it. A threat from the least likely god has the Camp shocked, and Connor and Nico find that two very different Half-Bloods may be their best bet at winning. Can the boys get it together to win, and find love in a post war Camp?
1. Chapter 1

The minute the boy had walked through the door of the dingy diner where she and her sister lived, Deanna Mathews had a feeling something was going to happen. Something was about to change. The boy was just too conspicuous.

For starters, he wasn't of legal age, and he was dressed oddly for a North Carolina back woods town. Saggy loose pants, a snapback, and Ray-bans weren't the most popular style of dressing here.

Deanna watched him as she wiped down a counter, then served a refill on coffee to a regular. Her mother was passed out on a couch in the family's living quarters, and her sister was on dish duty.

The boy sat alone, near the door in a booth. It wasn't a window booth, Deanna saw him specifically refuse that booth when Sarah, the waitress tried to seat him. Sarah brought his order over for Deanna to call in, and Deanna noticed that it was all vegan foods. Great. Not only was he a city slicker, he was also a vegan. In a county where steaks, hamburgers, chicken kebabs and dairy were the main menu for any family, he stuck out like a sore thumb.

Deanna noticed the boy give a group of men in their twenty's a look of disgust. The three were all loud, covered in mud, and dressed in cameo and boots. Deanna knew she'd have to mop the floor after them, but they always paid well, and that was all that mattered.

She tossed her red hair over her shoulder, then remade it into a ponytail. Sarah's shift was ending, and if she wanted these people out of there before closing then she would have to hurry.

Sarah waved at her as she untied her apron and left. Deanna grabbed the ice water and salad with no dressing for the boy, and without saying a word placed them on the table in front of him.

The boy looked up and gave a pained smile. He was older than she had originally thought, a light stubble of beard covering his chin. He looked to be around seventeen, a little older than her sixteen years of age.

As Deanna turned to go, she could have sworn that he'd inhaled deeply, and did a double take on her as she walked away. But she pushed it out of her mind. She had work to do, and later she had to tutor her little sister Kayden in math and English. She didn't have time for speculating.

Three hours later, she finished mopping. Twelve AM wasn't the best time to tutor, but Kayden needed it badly. Deanna had finished high school two years early, and she had time on her hands now. The now dark diner was clean, the condiments were refilled, and the coffee was ready to be brewed at a push of a button.

Deanna got to work on balancing the cash registrar.

Deanna was determined to leave this town, taking Kayden with her. All her life she'd known the same people, people who told her she was wasting her intellect and talents in a place like this. All her friends were still in school, dating and having fun. And Deanna? Well, she liked to learn. While her friends were partying, she would normally be studying or working in the diner.

Her vice principal was determined that she would win a scholarship to a collage somewhere far away. Deanna wanted that badly, but she had to think of Kayden. She could take a break from school at the moment, and help Kayden as best as she could. Kayden's dyslexia slowed her down severely in school, and Deanna helped her nearly every night after they'd finished cleaning.

Deanna walked over to the tip jar, and worked through the money quickly. She divided it into thirds, and pocketed a third of it. Another third went to the safe for her mother, and she marked down the amount in the ledger. She didn't count the money that she had pocketed though. What her drunk mother didn't know wouldn't kill her.

And the rest of the money went into the plane ticket fund.

Deanna's mother was aware that they wanted to leave, of course. She just didn't believe that they would actually do it. But that night after Kayden was asleep, Deanna counted the money hidden under her floorboards and smiled.

They had enough.

It was Friday night. The night that they actually enjoyed.

A small band came and played in the diner on Friday nights, and they often recruited Kayden and Deanna to sing. Kayden played guitar, and Deanna had played piano up until three years ago, when she started working more in the diner and working on her school.

Deanna was waitressing as Kayden sang, her clear high voice piercing the air. When Kayden sang, no one spoke in the diner.

Deanna preferred slow ballads, something where she could let her voice soar. Kayden loved upbeat and happy songs, and the drummer was always happy to play for her. Deanna looked around in the darkened room as the last strains of Kayden's song faded through the air, and she saw the boy again.

He was watching her.

The next day, as she was wiping down a table, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped and turned, wiping her hands with the rag.

"Can I help you?" She asked. She tried to stay calm. If this boy was stalking her, than she had to deal with it calmly. She'd heard from Sarah that he'd been asking around town about her and Kayden.

"Do you have a minute to talk?" The boy asked. Deanna looked at him, surprised. Then she slowly nodded her head, and the boy dragged her over to the booth where he had sat the previous day.

"What is your name?" He asked. He was watching her every move, seeming to memorize her.

"My name is Deanna. And you are?" She asked. He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Where's your parents?"

Deanna bristled. "I don't see how that's any of your business."

"It is if it saves your life, kiddo." The guy replied.

The conversation was quickly becoming the oddest that Deanna had ever had. She decided to humor him.

"I don't have a father, and my mother is asleep." She said finally. What could it hurt?

The boy leaned closer, letting out a relieved sigh. "Have you been to Camp yet? Chiron should have moved you closer to New York, there's too many monsters around here."  
"Camp?" Deanna asked. "What Camp? And who is Chiron?"

The boy sat shocked for a moment, then said, "You haven't been- You mean, you don't..." He sighed. "Look, I'll be back tonight. Don't talk to any strangers, or go with anyone, anywhere, alone. They're getting stronger. Got it?"

Denna nodded mutely, not sure of what to say. Kayden would be home in a few minutes, she could help her figure this all out.

At five o'clock, Kayden walked in. Deanna smiled wistfully when she saw her younger sister. The girl was willowy and tall, her brown eyes and red hair contrasting strongly with her light skin. Where Kayden was thin and willowy, her muscles strong from hours of sports, Deanna was soft, thicker than she would have liked in the thighs and stomach. Kayden was graceful, and Deanna often tripped over her own feet if she wasn't careful.

Kayden went to put her books up, and Deanna could hear her mother yelling at her. Analise Mathews was a drunk, and her hangovers were killer. From the sound of it, Kayden had flipped on a light and woken her.

Deanna somehow got through the dinner rush hour and the late stragglers, until finally they closed the diner for the night. Sarah had gone home, and her mother had gone out again.

Kayden and Deanna looked at each other and sighed. Saturday night was the deep cleaning, then they slept late on Sunday.

Kayden turned on the radio and blared Christina Aguilera while Deanna grabbed a bucket of soapy water and mops. While they cleaned they sang, acting like the mops were their partners. Laughing as they finally began to study, Deanna almost forgot to tell Kayden about the boy.

After she had related the story, Kayden sat in deep thought. They had her schoolwork sprawled across a booth, working on her math again.

"Well, he hasn't shown up has he?" Kayden asked. Deanna shook her head. "No, he hasn't shown-"

A yell, and the sound of glass shattering interrupted her, and she and Kayden looked at each other, startled.

And then the diner's front window shattered, and their entire world changed.

A huge dog stepped through the hole in the wall, and Deanna clapped her hand over Kayden's mouth to stifle her scream. The dogs back brushed the diner's ceiling even as it crouched, its red eyes glowing in the dark.

Kayden dragged Deanna under the booths table as the dog gave a low growl.

_This is it. We're going to die,_ Deanna thought.

Another yell had the dog jerking its head, trying to turn around in the small space. The boy from earlier ran through the diner door, yelling his head off.

Why wasn't anyone calling the police, or coming to help? Deanna wondered. It was kind of hard to miss a dog the size of a tank plowing into the only diner in town.

The boy was still yelling out words the girls couldn't understand, and he was waving around what looked to be a sword, but as Deanna watched it looked more like an umbrella. Then the dog barked again, and she could see it clearly was a sword, its golden blade glowing in the darkness.

"Get out of here!" The boy called. Kayden dragged Deanna out from under the table and they made a run for it.

Just as they were about to reach the diners door, the dog lunged for them. The huge head of the beast knocked a table over and into Kayden, who crumpled against the wall with a groan.

At the sight of her little sister being hurt, Deanna went into what Kayden liked to call, "Big Mama Sister Batman Mode."

She only really went into that when her sister was being bullied, or treated unfairly. And this certainly qualified.

As the boy swung his sword at the beast again, Deanna grabbed one of the metal chairs scattered on the floor. She swung it at the dog's face as hard as she could as it lunged at Kayden again. As the dog backed off, whimpering, Deanna grabbed Kayden in a mock version of a fireman's carry and stumbled out of the diner.

Kayden was coming to, and Deanna sat her on the ground on the sidewalk once she felt that they were a safe distance away. And then she turned back to the diner as an explosion rent through the air.

Deanna screamed as the diner where she'd grown up in exploded, debris flying through the air. She crouched over Kayden, trying to shield her as best as she could. Kayden was crying now, gripping her head and arm, which looked broken. A piece of glass cut her on the thigh, and Deanna cried out.

When it was silent again, Deanna stood and looked at the wreckage. It was nothing but a pile of brick and stone, and with a chill she remembered the boy.

_He had still been in the diner._

Deanna started forward just as a pile of wood and stone shifted in the ruin. The boy's curly head poked out, and he proceeded to stand and dust himself off. He was carrying a leather shoulder bag, which he inpected heavily to make sure it was alright.

The boy looked over and saw Deanna, and by the light of the streetlight she saw why he'd been wearing the snapback.

_He had horns._

Brown ones, just peeking out of his hair.

Deanna gasped and covered her mouth, and the boy reached up and felt his head. He cursed in another tongue, and somehow Deanna understood that he wasn't speaking English. It was... Older. Beautiful, in a way. Well, as beautiful as swearing can get.

The boy jumped out of the debris, landing just in front of her, and Deanna backed away, hovering over Kayden. The way he moved wasn't right, either. It was almost... Animal.

"Are you okay?" The boy asked in English.

"What are you?" Deanna blurted. The boy shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Look, Kayden's injured. I have medicine in my bag."

"Let me see it first." Deanna commanded. The boy handed over a Ziploc full of what looked to be a golden brownie.

"I hardly think that sweets will help her." Deanna told him. "It won't hurt her either," The boy said. "Go on. It's not poisoned."

Deanna felt that same feeling of trust toward the boy. But she didn't even know his name...

Kayden sat up shakily, gripping her arm. "It hurts," She said. Deanna shushed her, pushing her hair out of her face. She gave the brownie to Kayden, who nibbled on it. To Deanna's surprise, Kayden promptly shoved the brownie in her mouth and chewed, gulping it down. She then reached for another one, but was stopped by the boy.

"No more. It's powerful. Too much can be fatal." The boy proclaimed. He then noticed the cut on Deanna's thigh, which was bleeding heavily.

"Take some of this." The boy said, holding out a thermos. Deanna raised it to her lips, and still watching the boy suspiciously, she drank.

It tasted like Earl Grey tea, and pineapple. The weirdest mix possible, but Deanna loved it, and drank further. The burning in her thigh stopped, and she relaxed.

The boy then snatched it out of her hands, causing it to dribble down her chin. Deanna swiped it away, and she saw that it was golden.

"Two much of that will kill you too. Are you feeling better?" He asked. Deanna nodded. She looked at her thigh, and noticed that it had stopped bleeding. Actually, it was closing before her eyes.

Deciding that there were more pressing matters, she wrote it off. Kayden was still in pain, albeit not as much.

Deanna knelt and felt her arm gently and decided that it wasn't a bad break, although she couldn't be sure without an x -ray.

"We need to get you two to New York, I wasn't planning on this. You've completely jeopardized my mission, there wasn't supposed to be any in this state anymore!" The boy was muttering.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Deanna asked him. The boy started to answer, then he swore again, turning to look at the pile of rubbish that was once the diner.

The bricks were moving, falling, as the dog rose from under the debris. Kayden gasped, and stumbled to her feet with Deanna's aid.

"Run," The boy said, and they complied.

They ran as fast as they could down the street, skidding around a corner and making a beeline for the park. Kayden's normally quick pace was slow and halt, and Deanna pulled her by the hand as best as she could. They could hear the dog running after them, the ground quaking.

The boy was cursing repeatedly, and then he paused to take off his shoes. And then Deanna saw that he not only had horns, he had hooves as well.

They made it to the park before the beast was upon them, and Deanna shoved Kayden behind a tree. The boy had the sword out, and he was swinging it at the monster while digging in his bag. He retrieved something that smelled like dead animal, and he threw it as hard at he could. The creature, still groggy from being buried under the diner chased after it.

"What was that?" Deanna asked, panting. "That was a leg of sacred cow. And the dog is a hell hound."

Deanna could certainly believe that.

"Look, we only have a minute. Here," he said. He held out his bag. "Take this and get a plane to New York, go to the address, and ask for Chiron. Tell him that Grover's groove has been compromised, and that the eagle is attacking the cow and the thief!"

Deanna nodded mutely, taking the leather bag from him. The hell hound growled, then barked. The boy looked over at it's dark shape apprehensively.

"It's not after you," He promised. "But now that it's scented you, other's will come here looking for you. Remember what I said! Get to New York! Take this, toss it in the street, and call upon the Chariot of Damnation, and give them the address! Good luck!" He pressed a gold coin from his pocket into Deanna's free hand.

The boy turned and started walking across the field, where the monster lurked.

"Where are you going?" Deanna called after him.

"I'll be alright. Look for a Laurel tree. Goodbye."

And then the darkness swallowed him, and Deanna couldn't see him anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

_The Stoll Brothers._

"Yo Conner dude, wait up!"

Conner Stoll stopped and waited as his older brother Travis caught up to him. The war had taken it's toll on them both. Travis's smile was a little more forced, and his eyes a little more shadowed. They'd lost too many of their brothers and sisters to the war. The entire Camp had suffered, entering a period of mourning last year that they'd slowly broken out of.

They were rebuilding. Moving on. They no longer burst into tears at the name of a fallen comrade, but a deep ache would fill them.

But the nightmares persisted for Conner. Visions of people dying, the light going out of their eyes. He'd seen too many. They'd be with him forever now.

Travis had gotten it easy during the war. He had been one of the behind the scene workers, pairing up with the Athena cabin to plan. Connor had been the leader of those plans, the one who put it all into action.

But it was over now. They'd won. Percy Jackson had prevailed. Annabeth Chase was back to rebuilding Olympus. Frank Zhang was going back and forth between the camps, resolving issues and remaining praetor. Hazel traveled with him most of the time.

Leo Valdez was currently petitioning to get the mystical Calypso off of her island. Piper was turning the campers view of Aphrodite's children upside down, and Jason Grace had become a permanent fixture at camp.

And the Stoll brothers were here, at Camp Half-Blood. Like always.

Conner didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. He knew he wanted to find someone and settle down, but at the moment the only half decent girls were from the Athena cabin, and they would rather talk about algebra than romance.

Not that Conner didn't appreciate a smart girl though. Girls with brains were hot. But he couldn't see himself with anyone at camp.

He wanted what Travis had.

Travis had his Katie. Katie was an angel, a saint according to Travis. Travis was talking about moving in with her, and Conner couldn't help but feel left behind. He and his brother had always been close, but after the way had ended, they had slowly grown apart.

He wanted something to happen. Anything really. Anything to keep his mind of the nightmares that plagued him nightly. Travis had tried talking to him the first few times that Connor had woken up screaming, but Connor refused to listen to him. He was on the bottom bunk, so there was no way that Travis couldn't hear him.

Eventually Travis had given up, instead moving to the bunk in the back of the mainly empty Hermes cabin. So many of their brothers and sisters had been lost, and several had been pulled out of camp by their parents or guardians. And so the normally rambunctious cabin was now one of the quietest.

Connor walked silently with Travis. He was glad that Travis didn't try to talk to him, he wanted to be alone. But with a brother that was almost as close as a twin, he didn't get to be alone much.

It was lunch time. The brothers headed to the dining pavilion, as the rest of the campers did the same.

Connor loaded his plate down with pizza and chips. Who needed nutrition? And then, as was his custom, he tossed a pack of peanut M&M's into the fire, murmuring, "Hermes."  
It felt almost like a joke to be sacrificing to his father, when they'd already sacrificed so much. He hadn't seen his father in nearly two years, if you didn't count a brief glimpse last year when his father had been delivering a package to Chiron.

Travis didn't mind their father's absence as much as he did. But then again, Travis didn't mind a lot of things these days. He was too focused on Katie.

Connor ate his lunch quickly. He wanted to get in a little sword practice before it got too crowded.

Camp had only started back yesterday, though the oldest campers had been there much longer than that. Travis and Connor's mother had been killed in a car accident a few years prior, and they stayed at camp instead of with their uncle. They sometimes spent Christmas with him, but not often.

As Connor stood, long before the rest of his friends were done eating, he caught Chiron's eye. The centaur beckoned him over, and Connor reluctantly went to see what he needed.

"Meet me in the Big House in an hour, along with your brother. I have something to discuss with you." Chiron told him quietly. Connor nodded and left.

What could the old horse man need, anyway? As far as he knew nothing had been going on. The satyrs had been out finding demigods and protecting them, as was the norm. The gods had been oddly silent lately, but Connor had been brushing it off as their godly egos being bruised from the verbal whiplashing that Percy had given them after the war. Honestly, he was surprised Percy was still alive after it. He was the only one the Connor knew that could talk to their godly parents like that and not get vaporized.

Connor made his way to the Big House an hour later, mumbling under his breath. Travis was right behind him, though he was silent.

They waited in the sitting room, on an old couch that desperately needed to be retired. Travis kept tapping his foot.

Chiron wheeled in, preferring to stay in his wheelchair at the beginning of camp. It sometimes freaked the younger and newer campers to see a horse man. Connor and Travis thought it was hilarious when the centaur would get out of his wheelchair and freak out the new campers.

"Boys," Chiron said, acknowledging the boys. "Let's get down to business."

Connor and Travis sat and waited, knowing that Chiron would continue.

"I'm sure you two have noticed the gods silence," Chiron began. The boys nodded. "I've talked to some of the minor gods and goddesses, and the Olympians are fighting. Apparently some of them haven't been holding to the oath that Percy bound them to two years ago."

"What does that mean exactly?" Travis asked. Connor waited.

"Well, it means that we've been getting new demigods in, but they've not been claimed. In fact, no one out of four new demigods have been claimed, and they've been here for three days."

That could be bad, at least for the gods. Connor didn't see the big deal though.

"So Percy goes up there and threatens them, and we all go back to normal. What do you need us for?" Connor asked.

Chiron shook his head. "It's not that simple. The Satyrs that we sent out over the last few weeks to recruit have stopped taking our Iris Messages, and we haven't been able to track them down. They've vanished.

"Our most recent satyr that we've lost contact with is Grover Underwood."

Travis cringed. Oh no. Not Grover. Grover was like the leader of the satyrs. If something had happened to him...

"I'm sending you two on a scouting trip to see if you can find anything out. Nico di Angelo will be assisting you, although he'll be shadow traveling most of the time."

Travis was nodding, and Connor sighed. Well, his wish had come true. Something was happening. At least he'd be getting out of Camp for a while.

"You'll be scouting around New York, so fairly local. You'll want to stay at least the week, or until you get a positive lead. Argus is going to drive you."

"Yes, sir." Connor said finally. "Will we need to contact you by Iris Message?"

Chiron nodded. "Every day. And boys?" He said as they got up to leave. They turned. "Be careful. Something is stirring, and I don't like it."

Within the next two hours the brothers were packed. Connor had packed clothes, money, drachmas, and a map of Brooklyn. His dagger was shoved into its carrier in his boot, and his sword was strapped across his back.

As they speed down the country roads, exhausted from lack of sleep and too much exercise, Connor fell asleep.

And he dreamed.

Two red haired girls were standing in front of the smoking wreckage of a building. They were dirty and bedraggled. The older one was digging around in a leather bag, seemingly shocked. People were milling around, and a police officer was digging through the wreckage.

"It's a shame," One of the bystanders muttered to the other. "Those poor girls. Sound asleep, their mother gone out and someone blows up the furnace! Dead in seconds!"

The oldest girl was staring at the man in amazement. She reached out and waved her hand in front of his face. The man slapped her hand away.

"Go back to your box, filthy homeless creep," The man spat. He turned to his companion, and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Can you believe the nerve of them? We should kick them out of town, they're a public nuisance!"

The younger girl was gripping the older girl's hand, looking terrified. They looked at the wreckage of the building, then they turned and walked away, a look of bewilderment on their faces.

The dream changed.

Connor was watching a dance.

Not any dance though. A satyr dance. Round and round a fire the creatures danced, playing their pipes. Shadows danced along the trees. Connor saw several satyrs that he knew dancing. They seemed to be calling something, or someone...

Pan? Connor thought. No, he was dead. Maybe another nature spirit?

Someone was shaking him. Connor was pulled abruptly out of his dream, and back into reality.

"Connor, we're here." Travis said. They shouldered their bags and said goodbye to Argus. The streets of New York City were the same as the last time the Stolls had been here. Nico would be meeting up with them in a few days.

It was time to begin.

_The Mathews Sisters._

Deanna pawed through the leather bag. The amount of items that it held seemed never ending. And it wasn't heavy at all.

The night before she hadn't questioned how the boy had fitted an entire leg of cow in the satchel, but now she knew. The bag was incredibly stretchy. She'd already found a credit card, a PIN number, a small bank envelope with around twenty dollars in it, and a couple of sweatshirts. The shirts were stained and smelled slightly of goat, but they were better than freezing in the bitter October air. There was also a packet of alfalfa sprouts, the kind you get at health food stores, but Deanna and Kayden had thrown those out. Ew.

That morning Kayden and her had returned to the diner. Police cars surrounded it, and people had been milling about. Seeing her home in ruins bothered Deanna to an extent, but Kayden had teared up. Her mother had been nowhere in sight.

What disturbed Deanna was the fact that they thought that Kayden and her were dead. She'd actually waved a hand in the butchers face, a man who'd known her since birth, and he'd treated her as if she was a homeless person. As if he didn't know her...

It was just bizarre, and Deanna decided the safest thing to do would be to get out of town, find an ATM in the next town over, and get a flight to New York. It was as good a plan as any.

She was still thinking about the strange message the goat boy (Or just a really hairy guy, she hadn't decided yet) had given her. It was undoubtedly important, and Deanna felt like she had a duty to deliver the message. Whoever this 'Chiron' person was, he might be able to help them.

And so they started walking. They'd walked for two hours down the road that Deanna knew led to the next town over when they caught a ride with a farmer. They rode in the back of the dusty pickup truck, shivering, until they finally reached their destination.

While Kayden went to look for a cheap motel, Deanna went to the bank. She used the card and PIN number from the bag on the ATM, and to her surprise instead of fifty dollars, the ATM spat out five _hundred._

Deanna got the card back a moment later and examined it. There was something not quite right about it. It was too... Shiny. Gold. It glinted wrongly in the light, like one of those Valentine's day cards that change when you tilt it side to side.

The card was odd, but they needed money to get to New York. Deanna wanted to get out of this town. Once the police realized that they were still alive, they would want answers, answers that Deanna and Kayden couldn't provide.

Deanna finished the withdrawal and looked down the street to the motel. A thrift store was a few shops from it, and she decided to go it. She and Kayden needed clothes badly.

She had luck. Two pairs of worn combat boots, jeans, sweaters, and two large sweatshirts that were incredibly warm. She got a packet of socks as well, and two army green sleeping bags. She also grabbed a couple of paperback novels to read, if they ever did get a plane to New York.

She'd need to wash it all before she used it, and she headed over to the Laundry-Mat. It took about half an hour before Kayden came to find her. Deanna was sitting on the washing machine, reading while the clothes swirled and chugged beneath her.

"Hey," Kayden said, hopping easily up beside her. "I waited for you."

"Yeah, sorry," Deanna replied. "I got some clothes and stuff from a thrift store, and I needed to wash it all. Did they have any vacancies?"  
Kayden looked blankly at her. "Vacancies?"

"A room we can stay in." Deanna sighed.

Kayden nodded. "Yeah, it's fifty dollars a night."

"We can afford that." Deanna replied. The machine beeped, and she moved the load of laundry over to the dryer and started it.

She got back up with Kayden while they waited the forty-five minutes it took for the clothes to dry.

"Deanna?" Kayden asked, several minutes later.

"Yeah?" Deanna replied.

"What's going to happen to us? Mom thinks we're dead, shouldn't we try and call her or something?"

Deanna sighed. She really didn't want to have to make this choice, but she knew she had to.

"Kay, Mom's never really cared about us since Dad died. Even if we did call her, what home would we go back to? All we ever did was work for her. It's better if we make a clean start. And we have to deliver the message that guy gave us."

Kayden nodded. She still didn't quiet get it, she wanted to go back to their home. Back to Mom. But they didn't have a home anymore. Just a bag, clothes, and sleeping bags that formally reeked of moth-balls.

As soon as the clothes dried, the two sisters checked in at the motel. The room they were to stay the night in was small, with a single bed, love seat, and a shower, toilet, and sink in the bathroom. The girls gratefully took showers and changed. Deanna hadn't thought about sleepwear, so they wore big tee shirts and climbed into bed together.

And that night, they dreamed.

Kayden dreamed of their home. She was sitting at the diner's table, across from Deanna, and they were talking. And then Deanna began to laugh, and her head changed into the goat boy's head. The diner erupted in flames around her, and the goat boy/Deanna began to laugh harder, as its clothes caught fire and it burned into a grotesque skeleton. It reached out its flaming hands and wrapped them around her throat and squeezed.

Kayden woke with a gasp, and looked beside her to Deanna, who was thrashing back and forth in her sleep. Kayden shook her, but her older sister didn't wake up for several minutes.

"Deanna!" Kayden cried. Her sister was hunched over, panting as she hugged her knees.

"You okay, Squirt?" Deanna asked shakily. She tucked a piece of sweaty hair behind her ear.

"You were flopping everywhere, and you wouldn't wake up ad I had a nightmare and I'm just really scared!" Kayden said in a rush.

Deanna wrapped her in a hug as Kayden told her nightmare, in detail. It made no sense, really, except to prove that Kayden was relieving the explosion.

Deanna thought back to her own dream. In it, the goat boy had repeated the message he'd given her the other night, except her was in a place Deanna had never seen before. It had been in a heavily wooded area, and a ring of stone surrounded him. It looked as though a crowd of people had trampled the grass, though if Deanna thought hard enough, she realized the footprints were actually hoof marks. The place had felt ancient.

And then her dream had switched to a creepy boy, dressed in a black aviators jacket, black jeans, and combat boots. His dark hair and olive skin made Deanna think of Italian roots, and he would have been cute, if he wasn't two years younger than her.

The boy been talking to an extremely overweight old man, and the closer that Deanna looked, the more the man looked like an oak tree.

"But what are they after?" The boy asked, looking frustrated.

"It leads us all, it's the One That Is No More's most sacred object."

The dream faded away.

And somehow Deanna realized that she was watching real life events. In her head.

But how could that be?


	3. Chapter 3

New York was so much different than the girls expected. For one thing they hadn't expected it to be so loud. Or the buildings so tall.

Kayden was tired, dirty, and wanted a bed and shower. Deanna was just trying to find a library or hotel, and New York wasn't her strongest point. She was pretty sure that they were in Brooklyn though. Eleven o'clock traffic was hard to navigate through, as the pre-lunch rush was beginning.

Kayden was leading the way as Deanna studied a map she'd bought at a corner stand. She was looking for a library.

They had been constantly discussing what had happened that night, and trying to decipher the Goat Boy's message. They hadn't checked out the address he'd given them yet. It was a ways away, and Deanna felt that the address should be treated as a last resort. She wanted to see if they could figure out what had happened on their own.

The girls had taken to calling the Goat Boy G. B. to save time.

Deanna wanted to know more about the coin he'd given her. He'd said to call upon the Chariot of Damnation, but she was leery of just tossing the coin and the street and shouting. It was old, and looked very valuable.

Not many people were out on the streets as it was cold, even for October. The girls were wearing all of their sweaters and sweat shirts, and the boots helped the most to keep the cold away.

Kayden was getting hungry, and they stopped at a hot dog stand and ate. Deanna found the hot gods delicious, while Kayden disliked them.

Deanna and Kayden headed for the Brooklyn Public Library after Deanna had found it on the map.

The library was huge, and beautiful. Deanna was in love with it. Libraries were always her favorite places.

They started up the steps, and Deanna paused to admire the statues of a huge, golden gryphon hanging on a light pole.

Kayden sat on the stone wall leading up the steps while Deanna walked to the library doors. She tried the doors and groaned.

Apparently they weren't open that day. She sighed and went to join Kayden while they figured out their next move. The wind buffeted them, and They huddled together closely.

"Deanna, can I see the coin?" Kayden asked a moment later, while Deanna was digging through the bag. Deanna passed the coin to Kayden while she continued to rummage in the bag. It seemed to hold no end of stuff, she still hadn't reached the bottom of the thing. And yet none of their stuff got lost, and their sleeping bags fit into it somehow.

Something pricked Deanna's finger, and she grasped something in the bag and pulled it out. It glinted in the sunlight, and she moved the gleaming golden dagger side to side, staring at it in awe.

There was movement on the light pole.

Kayden froze, and then the beginning of their problems for that day began.

Kayden shrieked as Deanna dodged the statue that was very much _alive._

Deanna twisted away from the beasts sharp claws and grabbed Kayden's hand. The dagger was in her other hand, the bag over her shoulder.

And then they ran.

The beast chased.

The girls jumped down the stairs and ran down the side walk, nearly tripping a jogger in their haste. They had no desire whatsoever to fight that thing.

Deanna yanked Kayden down a side street as the beast made a swipe at Kayden. It tried to take flight and chase them, but Deanna ran down yet another brick alleyway and it couldn't spread its wings in the tight space.

They burst from the alleyway and into a quiet street full of vender's, huddled up in the back of their stalls.

Kayden knocked over a fruit stand and the man owning it swore at her, then turned pale when he saw what was chasing them. Deanna had no idea if he saw what they saw, or if they were just seeing a large dog running after the girls. She didn't stop to ask.

The beast squawked as it blundered through stands, overturning most of them as the terrified people screamed and ran from it. Deanna tugged Kayden into another alleyway, determined to lose the beast.

It was just so _fast._

Deanna was panting heavily, she wasn't used to running this long or hard. Deanna was the bookworm, not the athlete. Kayden was the sporty one.

Deanna could barely run a mile without stopping, while Kayden had been into all kinds of sports back home; she could easily outrun Deanna.

They paused to catch their breath behind a bunch of dumpsters.

Deanna was trying to form a plan in her mind. In the distance she heard the beast squawk, and someone screamed. Deanna bumped her head on an old fire extinguisher hanging beside an old boarded up door.

"We've got to lose this thing," Deanna panted. "We either stand and fight or separate and meet up somewhere. We're too conspicuous together; we slow each other down."

Kayden nodded, her face flushed from running. "I'd rather separate than fight this thing. Do you have any idea what it is?"

Deanna coughed, the cold air making it hard to breathe. "It's a gryphon. I've read about them in Greek and Roman mythology."

"But that's all fake, right? Just old legends?" Kayden said. Her face turned panicky. "Deanna it can't be real, it _can't!_"

"All legends have a base in truth, Squirt. We're either insane, or we've been living a lie for a long time." Deanna replied.

Kayden was about to reply when the dumpster was plucked into the air and thrown into the street. The beast was looming over them, and Deanna gripped the dagger and shoved the bag at Kayden.

"Take this! If we can't find each other in twenty-four hours go to the address in the bag!" Deanna shouted. The beast growled and crouched. Its eyes were locked on Deanna.

"But-" Kayden started, looking terrified.

"_KAYDEN!_ Listen to me and _run!" _Deanna shrieked, and Kayden took off down the alleyway. She was soon out of sight, and Deanna comforted herself by knowing that Kayden was momentarily safe.

Deanna forced herself to concentrate on getting out of this alive. She accessed the situation. She had a dagger, an alley, and an old fire extinguisher. She could do this.

The beast lunged toward her, and she twisted away, getting a good swipe in at the beast. It twisted after her, its mouth snapping on empty air as she dodged. The knifes handle caught on the brick and it clattered out of her hand and onto the concrete. Her hand was scraped from the concrete, blood was welling up across the palm of her hand.

Adrenaline surged through her, and suddenly it was like everything was slowing down.

Deanna knew that in precisely four-point-seven seconds the beast would lunge toward her again. She also knew that she could have the fire extinguisher off of the wall in three-point-five of those seconds, and that she could use it to her advantage.

The beast came in for the kill, sensing victory.

Deanna whipped the fire extinguisher off of the wall, pulled the pin, and let loose on the gryphon's eyes. It bellowed in pain as the dry ice spattered across its face, and Deanna kept spraying until she had the beast backed up almost to the mouth of the alley.

She dropped the empty can and scooped up the dagger. The gryphon was cowering in pain, rubbing its forelegs over its face and whimpering. Now it just looked pathetic.

Deanna closed her eyes and stabbed.

Silence.

When she opened her eyes again, a fine dust was settling all around her, and she breathed out a sigh of relief.

What now?

Kayden. She had to find Kayden.

Kayden sighed. She'd been trudging through what seemed to be endless streets for hours now. Her feet were aching in the too big boots that Deanna had bought her. And she was cold and damp.

She sneezed and tripped over a rock. She caught herself, and looked up at the building in front of her. It was just a small hotel. She could sleep there for the night.

Then Kayden remembered that she was fourteen, and she couldn't legally get a room.

She sighed and ambled on. Deanna hadn't found her yet, and it had been seven hours since they'd separated. Kayden refused to think that the gryphon thing could have hurt her. Deanna was smart, freakishly smart. She'd probably trapped the beast somewhere, and now she was looking for Kayden.

Yeah. That's probably what had happened.

She kept walking. The city really was beautiful at night, in its own way. She wished there was more nature though. She missed North Carolina, where it was open and full of hills and fields and woods.

She stopped at a 7/11 and got a drink and slice of pizza. It was about eleven o'clock, and she hadn't eaten since the hot dog Deanna had gotten her.

She walked further, into a more shady part of town.

By then she was just wandering, and she was beginning to regret it.

Music blared from a bar across the street and she winced as two figures stumbled out of the bar, throwing punches at each other. She got nervous as a drunken crowd of men followed them, cheering them on.

One of them whistled drunkenly at her.

She threw her shoulders back and stared straight ahead as she walked. She kept up an internal dialogue as she walked.

_Don't notice me don't notice me don't notice me don't notice me please oh please I'm too young for this who ever is up there DON'T LET THEM NOTICE ME!_

"Hey baby, where' you goin'?"

Kayden steeled her shoulders and kept walking. There were footsteps behind her. She finally relented and checked over her shoulder.

Four men were stumbling after her, laughing and jeering. Kayden shuddered and walked faster. She gripped the bag closer to her.

"C'mon baby, don't be like this!"

Kayden broke into a run. They were chasing her now; she didn't know what to do. Deanna would know, all Kayden knew was to fight or flee.

They were closer, too close. No one else was on the streets. A heavy hand landed on her shoulder, and Kayden panicked.

She dug her elbow into the mans beer belly and twisted away, yelling out. What had Deanna told her about being attacked?

Don't make eye contact, go for the belly, crotch and eyes, and _scream._

She yelled again and elbowed the man until he let go, wheezing heavily. Light shone on the group of men under the streetlight, and Kayden saw that there was now five men. The one she'd hit was the oldest out of the group. The rest looked to be in their mid thirties. They glared menacingly at her.

Kayden ran.

"That wasn't very nice!" One of the men bellowed after her. She didn't look back that time; she gripped her bag closer to her chest and started praying again.

_Please oh please don't let them catch me! Whoever is up there HELP ME!_

Kayden spotted an alleyway and skidded into it, and there was yet another dumpster. She jumped behind the foul thing and wedged herself between the brick of the alley and the metal of the dumpster.

She waited, breathing in little gasps, trying not to pant.

Footsteps paused outside the alley, and she stopped breathing.

"She must have gone this way! C'mon!" A gravely voice bellowed. Kayden closed her eyes.

She knew what would happen if they caught her. She couldn't fight them off, and she knew it. Her only option was to outsmart them. After all, how dangerous could they be? A bunch of drunken men didn't hold a candle to the beast that had chased them today, or the monster dog back home. But it was different this time, she didn't have Deanna to help her.

She was on her own.

Then she heard the footsteps go past the alley, and then gradually fade away.

Kayden gradually relaxed, waited another few moments, then wiggled out from behind the dumpster. She started to wonder what to do next.

There was a sound behind her, and before she could turn someone had slapped their hand over her mouth and yanked her back behind the dumpster.

Kayden started to scream, but her captor was franticly whispering in her ear, "Keep quiet!"In a heated whisper.

For some odd reason, she complied. She realized he wasn't man, or a young boy, but around her age. He had his forearm across her chest and his other hand over her mouth.

There were footsteps outside the alley, and by the light of a street lamp Kayden saw it was two of the men who had been chasing her, lagging behind the other. She held her breath, and she realized that her captor had stopped breathing for a moment as well.

The men moved on.

His arms dropped.

They both breathed again.

Kayden moved away from him, picking up her dropped bag and hefting it over her shoulder.

"Who are you?" She asked quietly. He stared back, his eyes dark as pitch. They were horrible eyes; haunted eyes. She could barely hold his gaze.

His skin looked as though it was a light olive, though he looked as though he had spent most of his time indoors. His hair was black, straight, and silky.

"I am Nico." He said stiffly. "Who are you?"

"My name is Kayden." She replied. His eyes flitted over her, pausing at her mid-section.

Kayden watched him warily when he stepped forward, his hand reaching out to the leather bag she held against her.

. His eyes widened, and she jerked it back before he could touch it. He stopped, inches from it and her.

"Where did you get that?" He asked urgently.

"It was a gift." Kayden replied. That technically wasn't a lie. Deanna had given it to her, and G. B. had given it to Deanna.

"You're lying. The only person in the world who has a bag like that is on assignment in another State. He'd never willingly give it up." Nico hissed. He made to grab for the bag.

"My sister gave me this bag, she got it from-" Kayden paused. "Look, I don't know you, and I most certainly can't trust you."

Nico glared at her. "I've just possibly saved your life."

"And you haven't told me why you did it, either." Kayden retorted. When Nico continued to glare at her, she added, "Look. I'm lost, I'm separated from my sister, and I've never been in New York before. Can you tell me if this address is close or not?"

She dug around in the bag, (Nico's eyes following her every move) and handed the piece of paper that Deanna had scrawled the address on to him. He squinted at it, and it was a long moment before his eyes widened and he stuffed the paper in his pocket.

"Well? Is it close or not?" Kayden asked. Nico cleared his throat.

"It's a fair way out into the countryside. I can take you, I know the people there."

Kayden knew that this was a bad idea. But she didn't have anywhere else to go, so what could it hurt?

"Do you know someone named Chiron?" Kayden asked. Nico nodded.

"This address, it leads to a summer camp. Chiron is the activities director." He replied. Nico shifted from side to side, clearly uncomfortable. Kayden was growing suspicious.

"And how do we get there?" Kayden asked him.

Nico winced. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand sheepishly.

"Um, how much do you know about Greek Mythology?" He asked.


End file.
